The fall season has begun with a dominant Harvard women’s volleyball team. With a 10–0 record, the team is charting its longest winning run since 2014. By comparison, at the start of Ivy League play last year, Harvard was just 1–7. Currently, Harvard is one of seven teams left undefeated in women’s volleyball across the NCAA, notably the only non-Power Four school to do so. It is safe to say things have changed.
Outside hitter Kayla Nwabueze ’30 knocks on wood often, though I am not sure she even notices anymore. In her first year, less than a month into the regular season, she has already been named Ivy League Rookie of the Week and is part of a major change for the volleyball team. She could not be happier, though she is still taking superstitious precautions not to jinx it.
Nwabueze knew she wanted to come to Harvard as soon as she attended the volleyball camp during her recruitment process. The team and coaches were a perfect fit and helped her develop her competitive spirit early in her collegiate career. “Knowing that every day I could be 1% better, pushing myself to be 1% better, having other people around me motivating me to keep pushing myself … always being on my side, having my back, [that’s my favorite part],” she said in an interview with the “Harvard Independent.”
Coming in this year as a first-year, Nwabueze was goal-oriented and remains so. “I want this program to change. I want us to go further than we have in the past, because I know that we’ve always been close to getting into the tournament, and then never did … [we] as freshmen can come and hopefully change that,” she revealed. Although she was initially caught off guard by the level of play she faced at the collegiate level, she has risen to the challenge. “Everything will follow,” she admitted, as she adapted to college life.
Sofia Rossi ’29, another outside hitter, echoed Nwabueze’s grit and optimism, confirming that a positive attitude may not be the product of novice determination. Rossi is no stranger to the ups and downs of a season at this level of play, and still, she craves the adrenaline rush of a good block or a kill. “It’s like no other feeling,” she told the “Harvard Independent.”
Ahead of games, she spoke about the preparation that helps her feel and play her best. One team strategy is to use drills tailored to the specific skills each position player needs to improve. “They write out the practice plan on a whiteboard, and there are three colors they use: blue, green, and red. So blue is kind of your basic routine … band work, dynamics, pepper.” As for green, she continued, it is “the area for improvement. You want to make mistakes because that’s how you’re gonna get better, essentially … there’s minimal pressure when you’re in the green zone.” The red zone, by contrast, is more intense. Rossi made it clear: once you break those “bad” habits in the green zone, you move into faster-paced, game-like scenarios.
Although results have changed, the drill structure has not changed from previous years. This raises the question: where have the newfound conviction and chemistry come from?
Rossi came into this year hoping to build confidence in her training, and the season’s results so far are only reinforcing that. “[It’s the] people that are here, that go to practice, that go to the games, that are cheering, whether they’re on the court or off the court … we want that Ivy League ring, and … everything is sort of clicking,” she said. Her confidence in her play coincides with the team finding a more cohesive rhythm on and off the court.
Outside hitter Alicia Guo ’28 told a similar story of team unity and mental toughness. “That’s what I really like about the sport. It’s … both very physically demanding and mentally demanding, and I can never get bored of that; and also, the feeling of hitting a ball is great as well,” Guo said with a laugh.
Focused on supporting her teammates, Guo attributes the team’s success to their closeness and to the understanding that everything they do off the court affects their performance. She makes a conscious effort to bring a positive attitude every time she enters the gym.
According to her, everyone on the team makes an effort to give their all, and the coaches help to inspire that energy. “We got two new coaches, which is a big deal for us. I think both of them are very technical and they give us very pointed feedback very often, which is a little bit different than I think we had before,” Guo revealed.
Rossi also spoke highly of the coaches, and the mentalities they strive to instill in their players. “They emphasized grit this year,” she said. “‘Greatness resides in toughness,’ so even though practices are hard … their emphasizing this has really helped us and allowed us to grow in these games.”
Across the board, the three players could not be prouder of the team and how far they have come already. They spoke about each other’s genuine attitudes, commitment to success and well-being, and ability to go the extra mile instead of stopping short.
And each player had one thing in common—spirit animals!
All three of them also recalled their team bonding trips before the preseason to a senior’s home. Nwabueze, assigned the spirit animal of the gazelle from “Zootopia,” confirmed the animal assignments were all niche and strange, which added to the fun. “One of our senior animals [is] a giraffe … in its ambient sack,” she said.
Rossi laughed as I brought up the odd assignment, pleased with her identity as the “Rainbow Fish” (from the 1992 picture book by Marcus Pfister of the same name), which seemed much more normal by comparison. She did not understand the excitement around the absurd spirit-animal assignments until she became a sophomore and joined the group of namers.
Universally, the choice seems vibe-based and arbitrary for first-years, though their instinct for choosing a silly name seems to develop as they graduate to upperclassmen status.
As for Guo, she has more obvious context for her animal: a bonding trip to the San Diego Zoo during the summer before her first year, which led teammates to compare her energy to the Asian snow leopard. Guo confirmed that even a former assistant coach, who graduated in 2019, participated in this tradition, meaning it has lasted at least 10 years.
As these spirited players continue with tremendous effort, they urge students to come see any games they can make it to! As they shoot for a ring, it is more important than ever for fans to be there cheering the team on—“pack the MAC,” as they say. With fans on their side and an undying trust between the players, the women’s team will dig deep in hopes of continuing their remarkable 2026 start.
Sucheta Srikanth ’29 (suchetasrikanth@college.harvard.edu) is comping the “Harvard Independent” and will see you in the stands!